It is with great sadness that the Trustees have to announce that Jenni Thomson – the Chairman and founder of the Gaia Trust lost her brave and very courageous battle with cancer on Friday 11th November 2016. She bore her illness with great strength never complaining and working on promoting the Trust’s future almost to the end – it seemed to give her great comfort.

Jenni was responsible for the birth of The Gaia Trust, and was its first director until her retirement in December 2006. She was also Chairman of the South West Environmental Protection Group and the Community Projects Trust, and was a County Councillor and member of the National Rivers Advisory Committee. In 1985, Jenni won the European Conservation Award for Industry. She was an organic farmer, non-executive director of a National Health Service Trust, a member of the Freedom of Information Act Tribunal, the Consumer Council for Water, and a Millennium Fellow.

Jenni has left the Gaia Trust in very good heart and now the Director and Trustees will work tirelessly to achieve the vision that she had for its future.

I was very saddened to read of Jenni's death. She and I had been in contact since July this year when I was researching what had happened at The Gaia Centre back in 2004 whilst looking into the business affairs of Mr Ian McIvor, the man who's company bought the assets.
I had found that the man who was charged by the liquidators with selling the assets, and awarded the sale to Mr McIvors company Neoventor, despite the fact that local business people had put in a higher bid was quoted at the time in the Telegraph as a spokesman for Neovenator, clearly a conflict of interest.

The reason that I was looking into his affairs was because Mr McIvor had bought the freehold to our local village pub, The Barge Inn at Honeystreet and was developing the property in such a way as to make it unviable. He had also advertised the barn and campsite for sale as a separate business despite planning consent not allowing the barn to be used for any purpose other than ancillary to the main pub (consent was given for B and B rooms and toilet facilities, his sale drawings showed living space and office space) and also a report written by his architect as part of his planning application stating that the pub is not viable without the campsite.

A Community project was set up to run the pub and awarded £424,000 lottery money, £371,000 of which has not been accounted for. This was charity money awarded to good causes and I have found what happened to it before he forced the Community project out of business.

Jenni was outraged when I sent her what I had found out and said that she would like to see justice done while she still had time, she had told me she had a terminal illness when we spoke by phone.

The last time we had contact was 11th August when she sent me the following:

Andy

Something about hitting nails on the head, I think! I have spoken to two regional journalists who have both said they would like to run the story from Gaia's point of view as well as the Barge, but could only go ahead if we can substantiate the story of the alternative bid for the Gaia Centre. Kim Oxenham, who made the bid, seems to have disappeared into thin air. Loic Rich, the Cornwall councillor who was co-author of the Telegraph story is abroad until early September.

It must be good news that the MD of BICP has now gone public which should galvanise the media at least locally.

Good luck

I sent the following link the same day http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4018453.stm

I didn't hear from her again and, aware of her illness, after sending a mail about a week later, I waited for her to contact me and, fearing for her I checked the local press periodically for news. This was how found the sad news of her passing.

I apologize if I sound insensitive but I wonder if she had discussed our correspondence with any of her colleagues or if any of you might know who the journalist who was interested in taking up the story is. At the moment there is a potential sale of the pub in its entirety and I am biding my time while this happens. I intend to then try and recover the charity money because I am outraged that he should take a happy wealthy retirement financed by charity money.

I was only in contact with Jenni for a short time but it was clear she was a formidable and very impressive person and I am very sorry I didn't get the chance to meet her, she had invited me and my wife down to discuss things with her.